75 reasons to love the West

The top people, places, things, and trends that make us happy to live here now

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Your Lego palace awaits

Now you no longer just visit fantasy land, you live in it. The Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad, California, has nailed every detail down to the themed rooms (pirates, castles) and lobby with its giant mosh pit full of plastic blocks, so kids can click away while grown-ups check in. And you can’t walk around a corner without stumbling across larger-than-life Lego sculptures, made with more than 3 million blocks: In the Bricks Family Restaurant, bumbling chefs tussle with overflowing cookie batter and a dog making off with sausage links. Head into the Skyline Café, and the mini cityscape has Spider-Man scaling a building and a wizard reading a book by a rooftop pool. Industrial-strength glue holds the sculptures together, so go ahead and touch. Or, better yet, use them as inspiration—there’s a Lego box in every room. From $269;california.legoland.com